Well written and well worth a read - Rated 
I bought this on a whim after a trip to Egypt that left me confused about what I was seeing at home and abroad in regard to women in Islam. Easy to read and not at all 'dry' the text is written by a journalist who I feel has avoided simply reporting stereotypes (as one reviewer has alleged) while not shying away from any truth in assumptions those ignorant to Islam or the Middle East may have made. She talks to progressive Muslims as well as hard-liners and though perhaps it is clear she supports a more progressive view I think she represents both sides with care.
I found it a fascinating read and certainly something I would recommend in a time when fear and ignorance are prominent in the way people react to a religion they don't necessarily understand.
A Fascinating Read - Rated
Using her six-year experience in the Middle East, Geraldine Brooks wrote her first book entitled "Nine Parts of Desire," which was published in 1995. The author spent sex years researching the status and the role of women in several Middle East countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq. The book is broken into thirteen chapters, which describes the journey and the observation of the author in the Middle East countries. She writes about the history of Muhammad and his wives, the purpose for the veil and hijab, the Islamic marriages, the women in military, politics, business, and entertainment, and the author's experience with Queen Noor in Jordan.
In part, this book explores the women's social status as defined by the Islamic culture and the words of the prophet Muhammad. Since Muhammad's death, the Islamic culture has been defining women according to their Koran, which became part of Islamic law (p. 190). The Muslim traditions and customs, such as hidden faces, hairs, or exposed skin of women, seems to came from the book of Koran that expresses Muhammad's accounts with his wives and his revelations. The Islamic laws seem to require women to wear hijab, cloth covering all of their skin expect for hands and eyes, and restricted social interaction between men and women who are not related by blood. In this book, Brooks mentions that the prophet, Muhammad, had a revelation from Allah that required women to be put in seclusion and to wear hijab when in public to avoid the sight of men who might feel temptation or desire to them for their own (p. 4-5, 20-1, 83). The Koran's accounts of Muhammad and his wives seem to show examples of why women needed to be covered and how this gives men ideas of being pure-hearted.
Throughout this book, one can comprehend why the repression against women became intensified in the Islamic societies in the 1970s to the 1990s through the defined social status of women in Islamic culture, Muhammad's interpretation of women's status, the rise of the fundamentalism and its mission, and their reasons for repressing women. With her extensive experience interviewing Muslim women in the Middle East, Brooks has written a fascinating book which expresses an unique perspective about the lives and tradition of Muslim women of the Islamic culture.
Eye opening! - Rated
I started to read this book while staying with friends in Cairo. It really opened my eyes to so much of the truth and myth about women in Islam and also to what is or is not actually written in the Koran. Absolutely facinating and a must for anyone who wants to broaden their understanding of the world we live in.
Really Improved My Opinion of Ayatollah Khomeni and Iran - Rated
I'm an American woman who has lived overseas in Morocco for twelve years. My friends and I are reading this book for our monthly bookclub selection. None of us was able to put the book down, once we started it. We all read the book in one or two days. The author is a journalist who spent considerable time in the Middle East, reporting from various countries. Although this is not a scholarly work, it is well-researched. The book focuses on her own personal experiences in each country, and ancecdotes from various women she met in each country. For me, the most interesting parts of the book discussed the home and personal life of the Ayatollah Khomeni. After reading this book, my opinion of both him, and of Islamic life in Iran, went up by about 300 percent. The author met and interviewed his wife, and various family members. He was a fairly modern, new-age husband, and playful father, who even got up in the middle of the night and gave his kids their bottles, and changed their diapers. The only thing he was quite strict about was the Islamic religion. Anyone who is interested in the lives of women in the Middle East should read this book. The book is as accurate today as it was when it was written.
disappointing and judgemental - Rated 
I eagerly bought this book hoping it would be objective and enlightening. Instead I found it catering to exisiting stereotypical views of women in the Middle East. Throughout the book the author continually confuses cultural practices with Islam.
In addition this book contains many personal/emotional views of the author...which is hardly what one expects from a book that is meant to be informative and present the facts. Just who precisely benefits from Brook's belly dance that she triumphantly describes as making a point?
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